Interdisciplinary Earth system science and Earth observations from the International Space Station: partners in education

The monitoring of the global environment will be aided by a nadir-viewing, optical quality window located in the United States Laboratory of the International Space Station (ISS). Through this window Earth observations data of significant scientific and educational value will be acquired and made available to scientists, educators, and the general public. The analysis of data from the ISS will require the integration of many Earth science disciplines. It is this integration of science in a global context that will make the data a value added educational resource for students from kindergarten to graduate school. Educational technologies such as database of descriptive information on over 200,000 Earth-viewing images, laser videodiscs containing 180,000 digital images, World Wide Web Home Pages containing Earth observations information and digital images, and 35 mm discipline slide sets exist now and will be improved for the ISS